Democratic Mayors Association Celebrates the First Anniversary of the American Rescue Plan Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – One year ago today, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law, delivering immediate relief to millions of working families and helping our nation build a more equitable recovery from the pandemic. The nearly $65.1 billion in local funding given to cities helped Mayors across the country make critical investments in public safety, health care, broadband, education, housing, workforce development, transportation, and more.
Praising the historic funding designated to cities, the Democratic Mayors Association board released the following statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan Act:
“ARPA has been a game-changer for Richmond children and families with almost $80M being spent to construct or refurbish four community centers serving our most vulnerable residents. This investment alone will mean that 100,000 of our residents will be a ten-minute walk to a high-end community center and outdoor green space. We’ve also invested $20M into affordable housing so that Richmond can be a city where anyone can live, work, and play regardless of their economic situation. These federal dollars are changing lives in Richmond and elsewhere around the US and will allow us to emerge from COVID stronger than ever,” said Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
“It is safe to say that the American Rescue Plan has been transformative for cities across the country, and Phoenix is no different. This legislation has been crucial in our economic recovery as a city and will continue to help us invest for the future,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. “Phoenix has used American Rescue Plan funds to create a Workforce Wraparound/Apprentice Program to offer free training and education to residents who have been impacted by the pandemic in the hardest-hit industries, to create a more resilient workforce for the future.”
“Throughout the pandemic, the historic ARPA funding helped our community develop outreach strategies that improved vaccine adoption and public health outcomes,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “Importantly, it enabled us to invest in long-term transformative change putting our community on the path to meet the challenge of homelessness, a challenge exacerbated by COVID. ARPA funding allowed our city to make workforce development investments and grants to help save the small creative businesses vital to our economy and culture.”
“Without ARPA, Scranton would have spent the last year like it did the year prior - halting key projects and furloughing staff to stem decreasing revenues. With ARPA in place, we’ve been able to maintain our austerity approach in some areas and finally move forward in others, from purchasing flood mitigation equipment and patrol cars to improving our cybersecurity to upgrading recreation structures for our kids. ARPA has allowed us to function without fear that our fiscal foundation will crumble beneath us, especially in the face of multiple COVID variants and rapidly changing economic dynamics over the past year,” said Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti.
“We in San Diego are incredibly grateful to the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats for the American Rescue Plan. This law truly rescued our city at our time of greatest need, and its impacts will be felt for years to come. Since its passage, this law has allowed us to keep City workers on the job, maintain service levels at parks and libraries in our communities, and provide grants to more than 1,200 small businesses and nonprofits. We also provided emergency rental assistance to keep more than 16,000 families in their homes. Quite frankly, this law was the lifeline our city needed – and we would be in a much different place today without it,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.
“ARPA funds are providing critical investments in social and economic infrastructure for communities of color in Madison. This is just the beginning of what ARPA funds will do for our community,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. "President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars have already allowed the City of Madison to connect hundreds of our most vulnerable community members to basic needs at the height of the pandemic, and helped us begin work on the City’s first ever purpose-built shelter for men experiencing homelessness."
“We were able to engage with our residents through a series of townhall meetings to see what the most urgent needs were in every community in Shreveport. Our focus has been on finding ways to improve public safety, technology and the quality of life for all of our citizens. Money from the American Rescue Plan has been used to provide essential equipment to our first responders and to improve critical services. ARPA dollars will continue to help our economy rebound and remedy many of the challenges Shreveport faced during the pandemic,” said Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins.
# # #
About the Democratic Mayors Association
The Democratic Mayors Association (DMA) is comprised of Mayors in cities of 30,000 or more – a diverse coalition of innovative leaders who get things done. DMA mobilizes Mayors on behalf of progressive issues and unites them with a common voice to take on the most critical challenges communities face. To learn more about DMA, visit democraticmayors.org or follow us on Twitter @DemMayors.